Three Sundays on Story Road

Oak View Baptist Church sits on South Story Road in Irving, where it has gathered neighbors and families since the middle of the last century. The church's mission statement, set in the simplest words, is "connecting you to the life-changing love of Jesus Christ," and that single sentence shows up on the masthead of every page. Around that calling, the congregation has built a busy, bilingual rhythm of worship, Bible study, recovery groups, mission trips, and a year-round children's ministry that fills three buildings on the campus.

Classic, Modern, and Español: Three Sunday Services

The Sunday schedule is built for the kind of family whose members prefer different things at the same hour. The morning begins at 9:30 a.m. with the Classic Service, a traditional gathering led by Worship Pastor Will James and the Oak View choir, where the congregation sings hymns and reads Scripture together. At 11:00 a.m. the Modern Service fills the sanctuary with a contemporary worship band and a more relaxed feel, while a Spanish Bible study life group meets at the same hour for adults who prefer to study before they worship. The third gathering, Servicio en Español, starts at 12:30 p.m. for the Spanish-speaking congregation.

The pulpit is shared. Lead Pastor Dr. Jim Gerlach preaches most weeks, working through books of the Bible verse by verse - recent series have included the Gospel of John, 1 Peter, the Gospel of Luke, Ecclesiastes (Chasing the Wind), and Unshakable - and is joined by Pastor Jeff Taylor and Missions Pastor Dave Arden when the text calls for it. A 40- to 45-minute sermon is the norm, and the sermon is at the center of every gathering. Services are livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook so anyone who cannot make it on Sunday can still follow along.

What Kids Find on Sunday Morning

Children are welcome at all three Sunday services. The Kids Ministry, run by Kids Minister Kristen Cartwright and a roster of background-checked volunteers, follows the Gospel Project for Kids on Sunday mornings, the same chronological Bible study used across the church's next-generation ministries. From birth through preschool, children meet in the Preschool Building across the campus; kindergarteners through fifth graders gather in the Story-Ward Children's Building, named for the street outside. Fours and fives may join their parents in worship if the family prefers to stay together. The Spanish-language service at 12:30 p.m. runs its own track of children's ministry in Spanish, while older-kid programs during the week remain in English.

Check-in uses a kiosk: parents receive a security tag with the child's name and classroom, plus an allergy alert if one applies, and a matching parent tag is required to pick the child up. Doors open fifteen minutes before each scheduled activity, and the policies on wellness, diapering, snacks, and emergency shelter are spelled out in the published ministry handbook.

Wednesday Nights Around the Table

If Sunday is the front door, Wednesday is the living room of Oak View. The week begins with a family meal at 5:15 p.m., open to whoever wants to come; people eat together, pray together, and hear a short word before the evening program begins. Kids' activities follow at 6:00 p.m., using the Hyfi curriculum, which walks children through twelve biblical truths about who they are in Christ, and run until 8:00 p.m. RISE, the middle- and high-school ministry, opens its doors at 6:30 p.m. and runs a worship gathering from 7:00 to 8:15 p.m., and the Classic Choir rehearses on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Spanish-speaking adults have their own Wednesday rhythm as well: Bible study and prayer at the O.V.E. life group from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m., after the children's and youth programs have started.

HomeGroups: Twice a Month in Living Rooms

Adults who want to go deeper on the weekend sermon, or simply want to do life with others, are pointed toward HomeGroups. These small gatherings meet in homes around Irving twice a month, typically over a meal, with a Bible study and a time of prayer. The Fall session runs from early September through November, and the Winter-Spring session continues through May. Groups are listed online, and people who would like to start a new group are encouraged to call the church office at (972) 790-3629.

The same strategy undergirds the Sunday-morning adult Bible studies and the Wednesday-night student ministry: the church calls it "Connect - building relationships with others within the church community and beyond," and treats relational depth, not attendance numbers, as the goal.

Hope and Healing on Tuesdays

Two long-running support ministries meet on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. Celebrate Recovery is a Christ-centered program based on the Beatitudes, hosted in the Español Building and open to anyone struggling with hurts, habits, or hang-ups - addiction, codependency, anger, grief, and others. The group keeps a confidential environment, leans on the Bible for its teaching, and runs weekly meetings with practical tools for lasting recovery.

GriefShare meets on Tuesdays at the BEC on the same campus at the same hour, helping people walk through loss at their own pace with others who understand. A seasonal gathering, GriefShare: Surviving the Holidays, comes each November to give specific help for facing Thanksgiving and Christmas after a death.

Sending Out, Serving Irving

Missions are part of the DNA. The Transforming Tomorrow initiative (2025-2028) reserves ten percent of every initial offering for world missions, and the church regularly sends short-term mission teams abroad to walk alongside missionaries and share the gospel in person. Closer to home, the Serving Irving Thanksgiving drive comes each year before the holiday, packaging and distributing food to families across the city. People who want to help prepare, pack, or distribute meals sign up through the church office, and the event has become one of the busiest weeks of the year on the campus.

Worship, Connect, Serve, Give, Go

The strategy that holds it all together is summed up in five words: Worship, Connect, Serve, Give, Go. Worship is the Sunday priority - praising God through singing, praying, and reading Scripture. Connect covers the LifeGroups, HomeGroups, and Bible studies that turn the congregation into a community. Serve calls people to use their gifts to meet needs inside and outside the church: a Serve page lists teams such as the Cafe Team, Greeters, Safety, Welcome Center, Bereavement, Food Service, Office Volunteers, Photography & Videography, Facility & Grounds, and ministry teams for kids, students, and adults. Give is biblical stewardship of money, time, and talent. Go is the church's outward-facing call to take the gospel beyond the campus and into the world.

The five values that undergird everything are short enough to memorize: a great life is guided by and grounded in God's Word; good things happen in groups; generous living leads to the most blessed life; saved people serve people; found people find people.

Beliefs are summarized on a dedicated page that points readers to the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, the doctrinal confession used across the Southern Baptist Convention, and the church teaches and preaches the Bible as the trustworthy Word of God and Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

A 75-Year Story on Story Road

Oak View traces its roots to 1950, making 2025 its 75th anniversary year. The most recent capital effort, Generation to Generation (2023-2025), raised more than $58,000 for world missions, funded badly needed upgrades across the campus, and reduced the building debt to $330,000. The Transforming Tomorrow initiative now underway (2025-2028) aims at three priorities: continuing to give ten percent of initial offerings for global missions, setting aside forty-five percent for campus improvements (security, campus-wide Wi-Fi, refreshed preschool and student areas, lighting and sound, new HVAC, a baptistry upgrade, and new signage), and holding another forty-five percent to retire the remaining building debt entirely.

That long memory shows up in the children's curriculum too. The Gospel Project walks birth-to-fifth-graders through the same chronological Bible story that adults study in LifeGroups, so a parent and a kindergartener can talk about the same text at the dinner table.

Planning a First Visit

Anyone coming for the first time is greeted at the door by a greeter or usher and pointed in the right direction. The "Plan Your Visit" page spells out the basics: Classic Service at 9:30 a.m., Modern Service at 11:00 a.m., Servicio en Español at 12:30 p.m., all under the same roof at 1004 S Story Rd. Visitors are encouraged to come as they are; the children's team will walk a first-time parent through the check-in kiosk and help register the family for the right classroom.

For questions, the office can be reached at (972) 790-3629 or linda@ovbc.net, and the Connection Card form on the church's site is the easiest way to ask for follow-up. The Oak View team is ready to walk alongside anyone who wants to take a next step, from joining a HomeGroup to serving on a ministry team to attending the Next Step membership class.